"Yes, but just wait."

That is what little voices inside of Harvard football fans must have been saying after the first quarter of Saturday's contest against Princeton, a quarter that saw the Crimson jump out to a 10-0 lead.

"Too soon to say," that voice must have lamented after Harvard maintained a 17-14 edge heading into the final 15 minutes of play.

"Hallelulujah."

After Harvard scored once in the final frame and then held on to withstand some late-game Tigers heroics to win, 24-21, little voices inside and bigger voices outside were screaming with joy.

The second-half curse that had plagued the Crimson since the second week of the season had been lifted just in time for Halloween, and just in time for the Crimson (2-4 overall, 2-1 Ivy) to make a run at the Ivy title.

The win snapped a four-game Harvard losing streak and brought to an end Princeton's hopes for an unbeaten season after the Tigers opened the 1991 campaign with five consecutive wins, its best start since 1965.

"Put to rest all that fourth quarter stuff," Harvard Coach Joe Restic said. "It's all done. It's finished."

All that fourth quarter stuff? The statistic that said Harvard had been outscored 51-13 in fourth quarters this season?

So what if Harvard's inability to score consistently in the second half cost it victories against Army, Holy Cross, Fordham and Cornell. On Saturday, one fourth-quarter scramble by quarterback Mike Giardi for a touchdown was enough for Harvard to hold off the pesky Tigers.

Giardi did have a little bit of help. On the defensive side, the Crimson neutralized Princeton quarterback Chad Roghair, who entered the game as the Ivy League's top rated passer, and split end Mike Lerch, who two weeks ago tied an NCAA division 1-AA record with 370 yards receiving.

Roghair finished with only nine completions in 21 attempts; Lerch caught only three passes for 67 yards.

Meanwhile, Harvard halfback Robb Hirsch came up with a monsterous effort, falling one yard shy of notching the Crimson's first 100-yard rushing game since Matt Johnson accomplished the feat against Brown early last season.

Hirsch fought his way to 80 yards on 12 carries in the first half.

"Coming off of four losses is demoralizing, but this week we had amazing restlessness," Hirsch said. "You could just sense the guys weren't satisfied anymore with what was going on. We had done some really good things, but we hadn't had the confidence to take it that one step further. Today you could really tell that we stepped it up."